Much of New Zealand's far north is without power after a transmission tower fell over

Much of the northernmost part of New Zealand is without power after a transmission tower toppled over in a rural area. Most of the region's 195,000 people are without electricity, and there is no indication when power will be fully restored to the area. Power had been restored to some through the use of a lower-capacity network, but most of the region’s homes and businesses — more than 70,000 — were still without electricity hours after the outage on Thursday. Residents were urged to conserve water and not to drive unless necessary. The episode drew attention to the region's ailing infrastructure, which was battered during a deadly cyclone in February 2023.